Physician Directory

Stephen Huk, MD
Stephen Huk, MD received his Bachelor of Science degree in pre-professional studies from the University of Notre Dame. He then studied at Saint Louis University School of Medicine, where he received his doctorate of medicine. Dr. Huk served his residency in general psychiatry at Saint Louis University Hospitals and then returned to serve a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry. He is board certified in both general psychiatry and child & adolescent psychiatry and is a fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Huk moved to the Kansas City area in 1989. Dr. Huk’s professional interests focus on the comprehensive treatment of attention disorder and the thorough medical management of mood and anxiety disorders in children. He was a founding partner of The Kansas City Psychiatric Group in 1992.

David Brown, MD
David Brown, MD is board certified in both general Adult as well as Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He attended the University of Oklahoma for undergraduate studies and his medical degree. He obtained his psychiatry training at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He is a fellow of The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He has been medical director at Research Psychiatric Center in Kansas City since 1996.He specializes in the full spectrum of disorders for youth and adult patients. Dr. Brown moved to KC in 1991 and was a founding partner of The Kansas City Psychiatric Group in 1992.

Stephen Samuelson, MD
Stephen Samuelson, MD completed his psychiatry residency at the University of Iowa and remained there to do a research fellowship in genetics. He later spent several years in an academic career during which he taught and did research in the field of psychiatry, publishing numerous research articles on depression, anxiety, substance abuse, pathological gambling and neurobiology. He has served as the medical director for a variety of clinical and/or research-oriented hospital units focused on treating patients with severe psychiatric illness such as eating disorders, addictions, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or general psychiatry.

Dr. Samuelson continues to treat patients with these illnesses in his office-based practice using a biopsychosocial model, and uses a variety of treatment modalities ranging from supportive medical psychotherapy to medication management and vagal nerve stimulation. He has extensive experience working with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia or binge eating disorder, and he works effectively with patients who have existing counselors/dieticians but who need additional psychiatric support.

He has continued to be a regular speaker at academic and clinical venues in the Kansas City area, and has served as a consultant advocating for persons with mental illness in industry as well as the National Football League. Dr. Samuelson is board certified in Psychiatry, is on the clinical faculty of the University of Kansas School of medicine, and is a member in good standing of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists, the American Association of Addiction Psychiatry, the American Academy of Eating Disorders, the Society for Neuroscience, and the International Brain Research Organization. He joined The Kansas City Psychiatric Group in 1997 and treats patients of all ages from adolescence through senior adulthood.
 

Kenneth Sonnenschein, MD
Kenneth Sonnenschein, MD completed his undergraduate and medical school education at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He completed his training in General Psychiatry at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and went on to complete his Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training at Georgetown. He accepted a position on the clinical faculty of St. Louis University and returned to his hometown of St. Louis in 1997. He became the chairman of the department of Neuropsychiatry at St Elizabeth Medical Center in Granite City, Illinois and held this position until he moved to Kansas City in 1999 to join the Kansas City Psychiatric Group. He has also been medical director of inpatient child and adolescent services at Menninger, Kansas City and Research Psychiatric Center.

Dr. Sonnenschein is board certified both in General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He has been an active member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry since 1991. While he welcomes the opportunity to help people of all ages struggling with emotional issues, his area of particular interest is evaluating and treating children with behavioral difficulties.

Dr. Sonnenschein has lectured and written on a wide range of topics related to his psychiatric specialties. He is currently developing a program in telemedicine to use current telecommunication technology to reach people in under-served areas in Kansas and Missouri.

Tahir Rahman, MD
Tahir Rahman, M.D.
is a native Kansan and completed both his undergraduate degree and medical school at the University of Kansas. He did his psychiatry residency training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. In the course of his career, he has treated disorders involving: anxiety, attention deficit disorders, mood disorders, eating disorders, alcohol/drug abuse, sexual problems and chronic pain. Dr. Rahman is a board certified psychiatrist and joined The Kansas City Psychiatric Group in 1999.

Dr. Rahman utilizes the “Perspectives of Psychiatry” approach to his practice. This treatment modality was started at the award-winning Johns Hopkins Psychiatry program.

This approach involves recognition of disease, behavior, dimensions, and life stories to formulate cases. All patients must be viewed through these “lenses” in order to be treated using a multi-modal approach. He strongly believes in evidence-based medicine. He is also currently conducting a study on a screening tool that he invented to help differentiate mood disorders. Dr.Rahman is extensively used as a medical educator and does CME (certificate of medical education) lectures for other clinicians. He has also written a book entitled, We Came in Peace for all Mankind.

Michelle Birdsell, MD
Michelle Birdsell, M.D. graduated with highest honors and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She completed both her medical school and psychiatry residency training at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where she held the title of Chief Resident in her final year of residency. Dr. Birdsell is experienced in the treatment of a vast array of psychiatric issues affecting all age groups. Her expertise includes but is not limited to: anxiety disorders, bipolar and depressive illness, drug/alcohol abuse, eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, attention deficit disorder, chronic pain, and cognitive disorders/dementia. In 2006, Dr. Birdsell moved back to her hometown in the Kansas City area.

 

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